Sean “Diddy” Combs trial jury shares concerns about juror with judge after starting deliberations

The jury in Sean “Diddy” Combs‘ sex trafficking case in New York shared concerns about an individual juror with the judge not long after they started deliberating Monday. The first day of deliberations ultimately ended without a verdict.

After more than two hours of legal instructions from federal Judge Arun Subramanian, the jury of eight men and four women headed behind closed doors to deliberate at around 11:30 a.m. Subramanian told the five alternate jurors to remain on standby in case they’re needed to fill in on the main jury who are weighing charges that could put the hip-hop mogul in prison for life.

About 10 minutes into deliberations, the jury sent a note indicating they’d completed their first order of business: electing a foreperson.

Less than two hours later, at about 1:25 p.m., a note from the jury was read in court to inform the judge of concerns regarding one juror’s ability to follow the instructions. The jury asked the judge to question this juror. The judge discussed the response with the prosecution and defense and decided to remind the jury of their obligation to follow the law and resume their deliberations.

After the judge originally proposed asking the jury foreperson the nature of concerns about the fellow juror, defense lawyer Marc Agnifilo suggested caution and that less be said rather than more.

“We can always ratchet it up. We can’t ratchet it down,” Agnifilo said.

In the late afternoon, the jury sent the judge a new note with a question about one of the alleged racketeering acts — possession with intent to distribute drugs — stemming from the racketeering conspiracy charge Combs is facing. The judge told the court he’d answer them on Tuesday and dismissed the jury for the day.

Jurors are being provided with a laptop loaded with all of the exhibits shown in court, including text messages, photographs and videos of the sexual encounters at the heart of the case.

Subramanian had stressed to the jury the importance of delivering a unanimous verdict, but also said no juror should surrender their beliefs in order to reach unanimity.

Ahead of the deliberations, CBS News legal contributor Caroline Polisi, a criminal defense attorney, discussed on “CBS Mornings” what judges typically tell juries.

“The judge will instruct the jurors, ‘maintain your own integrity with respect to what you believe, but keep an open mind, engage in discussions with other jurors, look at the evidence, see other people’s point of view, and if you can with integrity really come over to, you know, the other side, then you can get to unanimity,'” Polisi said.

As the deliberations got underway, Combs faced his family and supporters in the courtroom gallery. They bowed their heads in prayer — his family members holding hands with each other. When they finished, they all applauded.

The judge granted Combs’ request to have some books with him during the deliberations. On his way out of the courtroom on Monday, Combs showed two books to reporters: “The Power of Positive Thinking” and “The Happiness Advantage.” 

The jury will sift through seven weeks of sometimes graphic and emotional testimony about the rap, fashion and reality TV impresario’s propensity for violence and his sexual predilections, including drug-fueled sex marathons dubbed “freak-offs” or “hotel nights.”

Combs, 55, has pleaded not guilty to federal charges of racketeering conspiracy, two counts of sex trafficking — relating to two of his ex-girlfriends — and two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution for allegedly arranging to fly sex workers across state lines.

Polisi said the prosecution’s best chance at getting a conviction could be with the sex trafficking charges.

“The prosecution made clear there only has to be one instance, out of these hundreds of ‘freak-offs,’ one instance where it was coerced by force, fraud or coercion, and that can include threats of harm that doesn’t even include physical harm,” Polisi said. “So that can include fear of financial harm, fear of reputational harm. Remember, he videotaped all of these encounters, and the government laid out specific instances where he threatened to release those tapes.”

In closing arguments last week, federal prosecutors and Combs’ defense team took their last shots at convincing jurors to convict or acquit the Grammy Award-winning founder of Bad Boy Records.

“The defendant used power, violence and fear to get what he wanted,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Christy Slavik said. “He thought that his fame, wealth and power put him above the law.”

She said that he used his “close inner circle and a small army of personal staff, who made it their mission to meet the defendant’s every desire, promote his power and protect his reputation at all costs.”

Agnifilo countered, “This isn’t about crime. It’s about money.” He noted that one of Combs’ accusers in the criminal case also sued him in civil court.

“He is not a racketeer. He is not a conspirator to commit racketeering. He is none of these things. He is innocent. He sits there innocent. Return him to his family, who have been waiting for him,” the lawyer told jurors.

In all, 34 witnesses testified, headlined by Combs’ former girlfriends Cassie — the R&B singer born Casandra Ventura — and “Jane,” who testified under a pseudonym. Both women said he often was violent toward them. Cassie said he forced her into hundreds of sexual encounters with paid male sex workers while Jane recounted numerous “hotel nights.”

Jurors also saw now-infamous security camera video of Combs beating, kicking and dragging Cassie at a Los Angeles hotel in 2016 and clips from videos of sexual encounters.

Combs chose not to testify, and his lawyers didn’t call any witnesses in their defense case. His attorneys elected instead to challenge the accusers’ credibility during lengthy cross-examination questioning.

The defense has acknowledged that Combs veered into violence, but his lawyers maintain that the sex acts were consensual. They contend that prosecutors are intruding in Combs’ personal life and that he’s done nothing to warrant the charges against him.